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Saturday, December 31, 2011

I need to warn you this story is going to bounce around all over the place, but it needs to so you get my point. As the end of another year comes to a close, I look back at what has occurred this past twelve months. This year was full of events from the best of times to the worst with the highlight of 2011 being the birth of my fourth child, Riot, to then the crashing devastation and sorrow of my friends’ loss of their baby girl, Karlie Ann. I’d hoped to end the year on a good note.

I look forward to the Holidays every year. It is a blast to watch my kids get excited while putting up the tree and watch their faces light up when they see what Santa brought them Christmas morning. Right after the jolly holiday is my birthday and I have an extreme amount of mixed emotions about my birthday. My mom always made sure to make my day special growing up. She’d make sure to wrap my presents in birthday paper and keep it separate from Christmas. But, I’d always over hear the pillow talk of my parents through my bedroom wall at night, worrying if they’d have money to buy me something after they’d spent so much on Christmas. My mom would never tell me they worried though, but kids hear. She’d some how pull through and I’d have a great present.

So, because of this I’ve always made sure my kids have an awesome birthday. From the moment they wake up to the second they close their eyes for bed that night, their day was full of fun. Each year they are served a breakfast of their choice, we plan it out a few nights before so I’m prepared. They get to be “the king” or “princess” for the day and are vetoed from any chores. It’s a day all about them. My husband even gets this treatment. Well, he still had to go to work if it’s a week day. I really try to give him a “day off” to the point he doesn’t have to lift a finger when he gets home.

This year as my birthday approached, it was kinda a big deal to me because it’s my last one in my 20’s. Next year I’ll be hitting the big 30. I hoped it’d be special. My husband asked what I wanted. I gave him a list and even showed him in the stores. Like, walked him right up to it and handed it to him so he wouldn’t have any mixed signals. The only thing I was iffy on was what to do on the actual day. We’d talked a lot about how I’ve never had a group get together or party since my thirteenth birthday. Finally, the night before arrived and with no party happening I decided to have my family (my kids and darling husband) make root beer floats and watch a movie. The day came and as I woke to screaming kids I knew it wasn’t going to be any different of a day than usual. My sweet mom did remembered me though and got me a present to open. My kids wanted to go to my sisters instead so I could out to dinner with my husband, so the root beer floats were out. (And my sister is awesome because she kept my two middle kids over night so I could get some “alone” time with the husband)

As we came home and my husband fell asleep on the couch (the “alone” time isn’t going to happen) while my oldest played a video game, I realize it’s just another day. Moms don’t get special treatment and that’s okay for me. It’s my job to spoil everyone. Are birthdays supposed to be a big deal because they never are for me? Maybe they are just for kids and all they need to be for me now is a day to grow older. While I sighed and walked upstairs to put my baby down for the night, I am grateful to be able to have that. Knowing there are parents who have empty arms. I’d trade any birthday so they could do this one more time. I know I’m lucky and kissed my baby’s chubby cheek and went to bed.

Monday, December 5, 2011

My husband and I were able to go Christmas shopping together for the first time in years. I know what you are thinking; I leave the husband home with the children and go blow our paycheck on everything in the store. WRONG! The honest truth, my husband is the shopper in our household. Crazy I know.

Every year the Black Friday ads come out and my husband plans out the gifts down to the very last item. Between the kids circling their wish lists and Jess' dog eared pages, I can't understand who wants what. He gets so excited to shop for the kids, he will go fight the crowds alone, without me, in the unspeakable early sales. I stay home in my warm bed. You know, safe from the lady who pulls out the pepper spray.

I sometimes have a friend or two that want their hair done after work and I'll color it or what not. But this means it's also after work hours for my husband and if the calender says it's December and we haven't finished Christmas shopping, he will leave me and get it done. I get so upset when he does this because I would like to help pick out their Christmas too, just not the early morning sales. He won't wait just one more day so I can go. Nope. He has to get it done when the itch needs scratched. Then to top it off, Jess will call and ask, "What color would they like? This shade of red or the maybe the darker shade?" WHAT?! Like I can tell what shade is what over the freaking phone. (Yes, he does this because he knows how ticked I get.)

Anyway, this year we went on a weekend together and put a serious dent in the list. The day had gone perfectly. We'd brought our 8 month old baby with us. He is still in a carrier carseat and we snap the seat on the basket. When we put the seat on the cart, we heard it snap on and even checked to make sure it was sturdy before we pushed it. Everything was fine until we checked out and were leaving the store. Just as I pushed the cart where the cement meets the black top of the parking lot, there was a lip just enough to catch the front wheels. The next thing we heard is a loud SNAP and saw the carseat falling to the ground.The seat flipped mid air and landed on it's side. The momentum causeed it to roll over and stop right side up. I'm freaked out, chasing it as it tumbled. Jess is shocked and responded like any distraught father would and yelled, "Holy shit!"

We got to our baby (who'd been asleep right before the fall) and found him wide eyed looking around like "What the heck just happened?" Not a scratch on him.The handle had been in the upright position and acted like a roll cage. Thank goodness I'd made sure early in the week his straps were the right tightness over his shoulders.

Two things were learned from this; ONE: the carseat did protect him but how the latch unhooked from the cart scared us. If we had been in a wreck, would it have come undone and thrown the seat around the car? Who knows? TWO: When I called the seat's company to tell them what had happened, they told me carseats are NOT made to latch onto shopping carts and the safe way to transport the baby in the store if he is still in the carseat is to set the carseat it's self in the basket of the cart. This is how we now do the seat/cart shopping.

Woo, what a trip right? Start off with a nice enjoyable shopping trip then end it with a scary accident. I'm glad he is alright and nothing happened to him, but it freaked the shiz out of me. So, on that note, I hope you all have a safe Christmas shopping season.

About Me

I write young adult books, *on the road to publication*. I married my high school sweet heart and have some of the most beautiful children in the world. I'm a happy, positive person, and advocate for Fragile X Syndrome and Autism. Welcome to my chaos I call life.